/*
 * This file is part of the OWL API.
 *
 * The contents of this file are subject to the LGPL License, Version 3.0.
 *
 * Copyright (C) 2011, The University of Manchester
 *
 * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
 * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
 * (at your option) any later version.
 *
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 * GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program.  If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
 *
 *
 * Alternatively, the contents of this file may be used under the terms of the Apache License, Version 2.0
 * in which case, the provisions of the Apache License Version 2.0 are applicable instead of those above.
 *
 * Copyright 2011, University of Manchester
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */

package org.semanticweb.owlapi.model;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;


/**
 * Author: Matthew Horridge<br>
 * The University Of Manchester<br>
 * Bio-Health Informatics Group
 * Date: 24-Oct-2006
 */
public interface OWLNaryClassAxiom extends OWLClassAxiom, OWLNaryAxiom, OWLSubClassOfAxiomSetShortCut {

    /**
     * Gets all of the top level class expressions that appear in this
     * axiom.
     * @return A <code>Set</code> of class expressions that appear in the
     *         axiom.
     */
    public Set<OWLClassExpression> getClassExpressions();

    /**
     * A convenience method that obtains the class expression returned by the {@link #getClassExpressions()} method
     * as a list of class expressions.
     * @return A list of the class expressions in this axiom.
     */
    public List<OWLClassExpression> getClassExpressionsAsList();


    /**
     * Determines if this class axiom contains the specified class expression as an operand
     * @param ce The class expression to test for
     * @return <code>true</code> if this axiom contains the specified class expression as an operand,
     *         otherwise <code>false</code>.
     */
    boolean contains(OWLClassExpression ce);


    /**
     * Gets the set of class expressions that appear in this axiom minus the specfied
     * class expressions.
     * @param desc The class expressions to subtract from the class expressions in this axiom
     * @return A set containing all of the class expressions in this axiom (the class expressions
     *         returned by getClassExpressions()) minus the specified list of class expressions
     */
    public Set<OWLClassExpression> getClassExpressionsMinus(OWLClassExpression... desc);
}
